Therefore, in order to
progressively evolve (as individuals and as a species), indeed, in
order to transcend the Cave and overcome the Matrix, we must be
willing to break the cultural mold.

This is easier said than
done, because fear of the unknown is ever-present.

Here's the thing, down and dirty:

Soul-Initiation
requires ego-annihilation.

This isn't complete
destruction, mind you. It's creative destruction.

Similar to the way a
caterpillar gets annihilated in the cocoon and then put back
together again in the form of a butterfly, an ego-centric
perspective gets annihilated by overcoming an existential threshold
and then comes back together again in the form of a soul-centric
perspective.

But unlike the
caterpillar which acts on instinct to create its cocoon, the human
animal must act on courage to create their cocoon phase.

This requires a leap of courage.

Three, in particular:

the courage to
question yourself

the courage to
destroy yourself

the courage to
rebirth yourself

Let's break it down...

Question
Thyself

"Those who cannot change
their minds

cannot change anything."

George Bernard
Shaw

Both
the Cave and the Matrix are
meta-symbols for unquestioned delusions.

An ego that forms without the
ability to question will forever remain uninitiated (trapped in the
box of its own delusions) unless an outside force - something
traumatic like a death in the family or a near-death experience -
acts upon it with enough pressure to kick it into a cocoon phase.

Sometimes traumatic events give us the courage to question
ourselves, but rarely is that enough.

At some point we will
still have to take the leap of courage into questioning who we think
we are.

The more we question,

the more the
shadows in the cave begin to blur and the sunlight creeps in

the more the
Matrix begins to melt into the Desert of the Real

the more the
boxes we used to think inside begin to flatten

the more the
fragile mental paradigms our thoughts were trapped in get
shattered against the robustness of our skepticism

Things open up. Things
become illuminated.

Providence becomes the
reason to continue the practice of questioning ourselves to the
'nth' degree.

So question yourself, but don't stop there. Shift all paradigms.
Shake all secure foundations. Upset all outdated apple carts. Ruffle
all overly-serious feathers. Especially if you're the one clinging
to secure foundations and pushing that outdated apple cart.

The mightiest leap of
courage you can take is drawing the Question Mark Sword out
of your scabbard and cutting through the delusion of your certainty.

Because, here's the thing:

it's delusions all
the way down.

As Scott Adams
said,

"The human mind is a
delusion generator, not a window to truth. The best any human
can do is to pick a delusion that helps him get through the
day."

The Cave gets you through
the day.

The Matrix gets you
through the day.

Questioning both
the Cave and the Matrix gets you past your egocentric
perspective and ushers in the raw materials necessary to develop a
soul-centric perspective that keeps the cycle of self-questioning
going, which keeps Fear on its heels and gives it no choice
but to be fuel for the fire of authentic and healthy change.

Destroy
Thyself

"Run from what's
comfortable.

Forget safety.

Live where you fear to live.

Destroy your reputation.

Be notorious."

Rumi

Questioning yourself only gets you so far.

There is still culture to
deal with, and culture is the main prop-and-stay of the Cave and the
Matrix. You are an aspect of culture, like a drop in the ocean, so
you must also have the courage to question your cultural skin.

This is probably the
scariest leap of courage because there is the inherent threat of
ostracization. Which is a likely possibility.

Before you can handle the blinding light outside the Cave,
before you can withstand the pain of the Desert of the Realoutside the Matrix, you must experience the destruction of
your former self.

We're using the metaphor
of the cocoon. And inside the cocoon there is the absolute
annihilation of the uninitiated ego (the na´ve, ignorant,
codependent self) before the complete reanimation of the ego that is
initiated by Soul.

Deep philosophical questions must be asked.

Such as:

would I rather
the pain of knowing the Desert of the Real or the comfort of
remaining ignorant within the Matrix

would I rather be
kissed with lies or slapped with the truth

would I rather
the uncertain adventure of navigating my way out of the Cave
or the security of remaining safely chained to the wall

Answering these questions
can be a destructive process. But that's okay.

Because if you can
survive it, the wisdom in your scars and the experience in your
weathered soul will make you even more capable of being illuminated
by the sunlight outside the Cave and being moved by the harshness of
the Desert of the Real outside the Matrix.

So destroy the version of yourself that clings to your chains.
Annihilate the aspect of yourself that ignorantly squabbles at the
feet of Delusion. Demolish all thrones and alters. Especially if
your pride is being held hostage.

Knockout the kneecaps of
God himself, if need be.

As Dostoevsky
profoundly stated,

"Man simply invented
God in order not to kill himself. That is the sum of
universal history down to this moment."

Indeed...

So destroy God.
Then reinvent God. It's all you anyway. Be the Phoenix.

Relish in the ashes, and
then rise up a stronger more robust version of yourself prepared to
adapt to, and overcome, the vicissitudes of life.

It's authentically seeing
the sunlight. It's genuinely feeling the harshness of the Desert
of the Real. It's the ability to rebirth ourselves, cyclically,
again and again.

What is the truth?

The truth is, before, we
were trapped by Fear and we weren't aware of our delusions, whereas
now, in the cosmic throes of our rebirth, we are free to question
our delusions and thereby stay ahead of Fear.

We can look back on our
path and see how our codependence (on the Cave/Matrix) dissolved
into independence (in the cocoon phase) which dissolved into
interdependence (rebirth). And now we are prepared to rise above our
delusions (transcendence).

The delusions are still there, of course, because delusions will
always be there.

Delusions are a survival
strategy for a creature that knows that it knows, that knows it's
going to die, that must grapple with both the smallness of living in
an unfathomably large universe and the finiteness of being a mortal
creature destined to die despite holding infinity in its heart.

As Berdyaev
surmised,

"Man is a finite,
limited creature but he holds infinity within him, and he
demands infinity as an end."

But at least we are no
longer slaves to our delusions. We are no longer slaves to Fear.

We have gained the
transcendent capacity to question our delusions and challenge our
fears. We have earned the spiritual wherewithal to be flexible and
robust against the inherent meaninglessness of reality.

We've secured the
existential aptitude to embrace that infinity in our heart and hold
it up against the meaninglessness of the universe and declare it
meaningful despite.

So yes. Erect your Gods. Bask in your delusions. But then have the
courage to question whatever flavor of Cave or essence of Matrix you
can imagine yourself stuck in.

Just be sure to tear your
God down. Kill your codependent self so that your independent
self can emerge with the audacity to become your interdependent self
which has the power to transcend fear and delusion.

Build, destroy, rebuild,
redestroy.

Don't remain too long in
the outdated comfort of any Cave or Matrix. Feel the existential
absurdity if it all. Soul to marrow. Heart to bones.